Seven Flowers for Lily
by Paimpont
Summary: Seven flowers for Lily. Seven moments in the life of Severus Snape. SS/LE. Written for the Skittles Challenge.
1. Violet

_**Author's Note:** This is a series of drabbles written in response to Louise Foxhall's Skittles challenge. Each of the seven drabbles features one of the colors of the rainbow. My pairing is Severus/Lily._

_..._

**~Violet~**

I peek through the hole in the fence. Two little girls are playing in the grey-white remnants of the March snow. One of them forms hard, ice-crusted snowballs out of the half-melted snow and throws them moodily at the bare tree trunks. But the other - a girl with hair like a flame - shapes the snow into glittering castles, far more beautiful than the dirty snow should have allowed. _Magic._ My own magic reaches out to her, and a delicate violet flower bursts up through the snow. She glances at it for a moment in surprise. Then she smiles and picks the impossible flower.


	2. Indigo

**~Indigo~**

She peers into her cauldron with a frown, her fiery curls hanging limply about her shoulders in the rising steam. "It's still too dark." She glances quickly at the pale lilac contents of my cauldron. "I followed all the instructions pefectly, Severus, and yet my love potion is not as pale and shimmering as yours." I breathe in the scent from my potion _- her_ scent - and sigh. I pull a bluish-purple blossom from my pocket and hand it to her. "Try adding this," I whisper. "It's called amaranth, and it will bestow eternal love. I don't need it; you can have it all."


	3. Blue

**~Blue~**

She has left her book open in the grass. The yellowed pages flutter in the slight spring breeze. A small flower is pressed between the pages of the potions book, a sky blue forget-me-not. My heart gives a lurch when I see it. She kept the flower I gave her; she is using it as a bookmark. But the wind picks up the dried flower and tosses it into the air. She doesn't notice; she is down by the lake now, talking to the dark-haired boy. I follow the flower with my eyes as it is carried away by the wind.


	4. Green

**~Green~**

She forgets to add the rue to her potion. Who would have thought that _she_ could ever forget something like that? But her emerald eyes are shining this morning, and a secret smile passes between her and _him. _I tear at the green leaf she left behind on the work table and shred it slowly between my fingers. She turns to whisper something in his ear, and he laughs and laces his fingers into hers. I drop the leaf unnoticed into her potion and stir it until it disappears under the surface.


	5. Yellow

**~Yellow~**

She pauses when she sees me by the entrance to the chapel. "Thank you for being here for me on my wedding day, Severus," she says softly. Her red curls are hidden under the cloud of her veil. "I was afraid you wouldn't come..." Her voice trembles. "Of course I am here," I whisper, and I loosen the pale yellow rose I wear pinned to my dress robes and hand it to her. She accepts it wordlessly and puts it into the bouquet she carries. Then she smiles at me and goes into the chapel to meet her bridegroom.


	6. Orange

**~Orange~**

There are marigolds everywhere. The bright blossoms appear to be small suns in the grey November drizzle. Their sweet fragrance mingles with the scent of rain and freshly dug earth. Her white coffin is barely visible under the shroud of flowers. Somewhere nearby someone is sobbing loudly. I reach out, hesitantly, to touch the cold marble of the coffin, but my hand finds only soft petals. My lips form her name, but no sound comes out. I add another marigold to the thousand others. Perhaps she will know that this one was from me.


	7. Red

**~Red~**

_He always had his mother's eyes..._

Why do his eyes fill with tears all of a sudden? Surely, the Boy Who Lived isn't weeping for me? He tries to stem the venom-laced blood that flows from my wound. The serpent's bite is much too deep, child; there is nothing you can do for me now. Take my memories from me instead, and you will understand. I always did what I had to do. I did it for her and for you.

My blood is a small pool of crimson against the dark earth. In the setting sun, it looks almost like a flower.


End file.
